The Hindu Business Line : Govt housing tax

In your Letters column of April 4, a reader seems to have made an off-the-cuff observation without considering some basic facts. He says that over 85 per cent of the population does not have proper shelter and, hence, PSU employees should pay housing perk tax. What has one got to do with the other? The tax (33 per cent at the highest slab) is levied on 15-20 per cent of all the salary elements put together, which works out to several thousand rupees per year.

A PSU employee is not paid house rent allowance at 15 per cent, even in places such as Tiruchi, whereas he is subject to rapacious tax in addition to standard rent for the quarters. The housing provided has very basic amenities and is only marginally maintained by the Management. Electricity is payable to the EB while water charges are payable to the Company. In this process, the loss of HRA together with the perk tax works out to anywhere between Rs 1500 and Rs 7000 per month in, say, Tiruchi, whereas one can get private housing at half this cost. Owing to the compulsions of staying near the factory, some 20 km away from the town, the burden on the Township residents is unbearable. Such irrelevant suggestions are, thus, hardly called for.

P. V. Chandrasekharan

Tiruchi

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